nathan chow:

1. I danced hard enough not to notice my new shiny shoes broke already.

2. I still have trouble dancing on beat in salsa and would still like to correct that.

3. I still have trouble dancing on beat in life and would never like to correct that.

Today my roommate’s best friend complimented me in a way I hadn’t heard in a while when she said my voice is “very calm and soothing” and that it puts her “at ease.”

I’m not really sure how much I believe what I say in the next few passages, but I’m just gonna toy with an idea:

Few people compliment others’ voices. It’s always clothes, accessories, and hair styles that we notice and can easily make statements about. But after thinking about the compliment I had just received and how it was in line with my personality (or at least how I think of myself), I realized how accurate of a judgment you can make of someone just by listening to their voice.

Actions depend on circumstance and setting, clothes depend on fashion sense, and posture sometimes depends on just how comfortable it is. But voice stays relatively consistent. At big social gatherings, I can very easily act crazy and be an attention whore, while in classrooms, I am often an obedient and reserved teacher’s pet. Obviously I would raise my voice at a party, but whether party or classroom, I think my voice pretty much stays the same. Other ways of judging me may be accurate every now and then, but judging me by voice gives you a picture of the core of my personality.

Think of some of your friends and what their voices say about them. Is the voice soft, loud, weak, powerful, energetic, lively, monotone, blah, fast, slow, rushed, calm, shrill, piercing, stuttered, overly formal?

Compliment them! Even if someone’s voice has a traditionally “negative” quality to it, it probably says something positive about the person’s character. A weak voice probably means a chill personality. A piercing voice probably means a fun personality. Point it out and your friend may be pleasantly surprised by something few people notice about them!

I haven’t been to an airport in more than half a decade.. and in my four years at BU and in Boston, never have I ever been to Logan Airport (a fact that a lot of my friends who live far away find hard to grasp). That changed at the end of August.

My first visit to Logan was when a few friends and I (and especially Sima) surprised Katie there. My second was when I wanted to see Giselle there when she landed (even though I got there later than her plane.. haha).

My visits to the airport reminded me of the ending of the film Love Actually—that “love actually is all around.” Maybe my friends who fly often have grown used to them, but I thought the arrival gates were really exciting places to be. Giselle’s flight came in really late, but Katie’s came in at around 11 pm.. and I was still able to see lots of family members and friends reunite with each other.

I’ve been to few airports in my life, but after my most recent visits, I think I’ll vote them the number one place to see the happiest hugs. I really wish people gave hugs like that every time they saw each other and every time they said good-bye.

Yes, I truly believe love actually is all around. But I wish we were open to showing it more often—on a day-to-day basis, not just an airport arrival and departure basis.